Pakistani Investors Stone Exchange as Stocks Plunge July 17 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan investors stormed out of the Karachi Stock Exchange, smashed windows and cursed regulators after the benchmark index fell for a 15th day, the worst losing streak in at least 18 years. ``I have lost my life savings in the last 15 days and no one in the government or regulators came to help us,'' said Imran Inayat, 45, a protester and a former banker who retired early and said he lost 300,000 rupees ($4,175) on the market. Police surrounded the exchange after hundreds of investors stoned the building and shouted anti-government slogans. Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, which imposed and then removed a 1 percent daily limit on price declines this week, had attempted to halt a slide that wiped out $30 billion of market value in three months, threatening to undo a 14-fold rally since 2001. ``There has been some level of mismanagement by the authorities,'' said Habib-ur-Rehman, who manages the equivalent of 6.5 billion rupees in Pakistani stocks and bonds at Atlas Asset Management Ltd. in Karachi. ``This may be due to their misperception that they can prevent the market from falling. Investors have to learn to bear losses as they do gains.'' The benchmark Karachi Stock Exchange 100 Index dropped 278.96, or 2.7 percent, to 10,212.92. The index plunged 35 percent from the record of 15,676.34 on April 18. Losses have been even steeper in China and Vietnam, where stock indexes fell more than 48 percent in 2008, yet no violence ensued there. Mobius Saw Risks Pakistan stocks reached an all-time high two months after parties opposed to President Pervez Musharraf prevailed in a parliamentary vote and said they would try to form a coalition government. The election heightened the risks for investors, Templeton Asset Management Ltd.'s Mark Mobius said in February. Regulators this week eased the curbs on trading after volumes fell to the lowest in a decade. The restrictions, including a ban on short selling, were lifted with effect from July 14 by the securities commission after the exchange announced a 50 billion rupee fund to buy stocks. ``We will try to activate the fund as soon as possible to give investors an exit opportunity,'' stockbroker Aqeel Karim Dhedhi told reporters after an emergency meeting at the exchange. ``We will meet again at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow.'' Coalition Dispute The Karachi Index plunged this year on concern the ruling government coalition would collapse because of disputes between Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, the biggest group in the ruling coalition, and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The leaders have failed to resolve differences over how to reinstate judges dismissed by Musharraf and whether the former army chief should be removed and stand trial. Foreign investors slashed spending on Pakistani stocks to $62.2 million in the 11 months ended May 31, from $1.76 billion a year earlier, according to data compiled by the central bank. Investors broke windows today in Karachi, threw plant holders in the parking lot of the building, burned shareholder statements and at least one protester was injured, prompting intervention by police and the paramilitary. Investors also protested outside the Lahore and Islamabad stock exchanges, Geo Television reported. ``We demand that all stock prices be frozen at current levels,'' said Kauser Javed, who heads the Small Investors Association. ``People have sold their assets in the last 15 days to meet payments and if things continue this way, you will start hearing of suicides. The regulators always favor big brokers and investors.''
There are 9 pages that I don't feel like reading through, but two questions: 1. Has anyone shorted Citi? 2. Is it worth buying Sirius now as some analysts predict the impending merger with XM can bring a good ROI to even out the market value of the combined company?
Pakistani people are some crazy SOB that dont f around...these guys take to the streets like every other day Man, was I lucky to be born in Brasil. I cant even image how different my life would be had I been born in Pakistan
whahooo... i just made a 30 percent return on American Airlines . I anticipated a drop in oil prices and thought that it was at or near it's lowest price a week ago. bought at low 5, now it's at mid 8, made about 1 grand in just a little over a week. i'm giddy.
Are some investors bottom fishing in energy stocks? A shift back into natural resource stocks or some other sector of the market?
Hey Nimrod....information on the capture of Bin Laden will net you more than $20 million. Get busy... DD
I bought SIRI about 3 months ago at $1.56 per share - thinking it had bottomed out. geez was i wrong.
i dont even know how im supposed to take that.... first the 'get back to normal UH' comment and now this?
you can make alot of money off finance stocks if you have the money and guts. the price is right and there's going be alot of mergers going on. we're in a recession and will eventually get out of it. it's all a matter of knowing which ones won't go under. right now, i'm playing the stop and limit game. i bought wachovia at $10 made 50% today then sold... will play the same game for the short term i might wanna note... i lost a ton off Washington mutual this pass 2 weeks.
They are not related.....after a hurricane you want to get back to normal ASAP, as for Bin Laden.....he has a bounty......on his head.....if you lost 4k, you can make 20 million....by ratting him out.... not that hard to understand really. DD
I backed up the truck on GS today at 90. Apple at 120 and Rimm at 90. With the new naked short selling regulation and this pending financial lifeline to be signed in the next few days, the market may have a temporary bottom. I'm not saying no more pain to come, but those were great prices. Do you realize Goldman Sachs (GS) had an IPO price of 67.50? And you could buy it today for 85? Crazy! Also backed up the truck on LDK Solar (LDK) at 25. This stock will be in the 300s by 2011. Ten bagger.
yea.. it's an interesting time for finances right now. if you're holding long, i suspect you can make some money. not sure about apple. it's high already, and they're going to get alot of competition with htc and sony ericsson, then android. microsoft is also starting an aggressive campaign against the "hi.. i'm pc" commercials.
